3 Essential Steps to Successful PR for Your Cannabis or Psychedelics Company

by Alan Aldous

Public relations is not rocket science, and many companies can act as their own representation if they have a tight budget and the capacity to take on the tasks. Unfortunately, people tend to over-complicate things. But when you break down some basic PR tactics, you can create a process that is easy and repeatable.              

Think of public relations as a job search with three simple steps: 

1. Creating the resume or CV;
2.  Perform outreach; and
3. Look great for your interview.

Follow these three steps, and you’ll be able to grasp some quality earned media quickly.

Create a Clear and Concise Public Presence—A Media Kit!

First, you must prepare to make a great first impression. In a job search, that’s your resume, but in PR, we refer to your media kit. So, think about everything that makes you and your business unique. Your accomplishments, strengths, goals and passions should demonstrate that you’re a good match for your target audience.

Think of the media as the hiring agent you are trying to impress. They’re searching for the perfect guest for an interview or a quote — someone who will bring value to their readers, viewers and listeners.

Instead of a resume, you will use an online press kit. You want to hand the media everything they need to evaluate you — the aspects about you, your company, your brand and your products or services that make you unique and demonstrate how you provide value for the world.

Here are a few tips on creating a winning online press kit to get you started. Your cannabis company or psychedelics company press kit should include these key elements:

• Company and product information
• Bios of your spokespeople, including their byline
• High-resolution images, logos, etc.
• Media coverage clippings or examples
• Suggested interview questions
• News and story ideas and angles
• Media contact information
• Print and broadcast one-pagers

Start Reaching Out 

After you’ve created your press kit, the next step is to design a search that will ultimately give you what you want. There are two main approaches to getting in touch with the media:

1. Respond to media requests online. There are several free resources for this method, such as PitchRate.com, HARO and SourceBottle, but plenty of journalists do call-outs for sources on social media. Make sure you’re following your favourite journalists covering your niche. When replying to reporter requests, reference the request heading (preferably in your subject line), keep your email relevant and to the point and include links to your online press kit and public website. 
2. The second approach is more personalized and involves researching media outlets and contacts. In PR, this kind of in-depth outreach means figuring out what media venues you want to be a part of and which journalists cover your topics of expertise, then pitching them to find out if or how you can contribute to their stories. When telling your story, provide a problem that the media contact’s readers, viewers and listeners might face, and explain the value and solutions you or your company can offer. 

Both of these approaches are effective and can produce results. Alan Aldous tends to use both tactics simultaneously. However, if you have limited time or resources, pick one path and focus on that before you try both.

Get Ready For The Interview 

If you proceed successfully and get to the final part of your job search — or PR strategy — the interview comes.

At this point, it doesn’t matter how great your resume or your online press kit is. Ultimately, you won’t land the interview or the job when you’re up to bat and don’t knock it out of the ballpark. And in this case, you won’t get meaningful PR results.

You’ll find many great online resources covering interviews, but we’ve learned over a decade from media training our clients that your intention is the most important thing. If your purpose is to provide value to the media’s audience (and if you’re doing PR, it should be), you need to find the right words and way to deliver your message so you can make the difference you’re committed to making. 

Think of your value as your purpose: What are you ultimately committed to, and how will your expertise or products help people or the planet?

If you want to do PR for yourself or your company, remember it’s like searching for a job:

1. Create your online press kit (your resume).
2. Pick the strategy you’ll use to find that dream placement.
3. When the media comes knocking, deliver a fantastic interview that leaves them wanting to return to you regularly for your expertise.

Call us. We’re here to help you.

Call us if you can’t be your own publicist and want to obtain more earned media without the hassle and cost of press releases. We invest in the best tools (so you don’t have to) that get better traction than a dusty old press release.

Are you looking for creatively compliant ways to keep your ship’s sails full so you can focus on the business side? Alan Aldous can help.

Call us at +1 (844)-4-WEED-PR or fill out our contact form to book a 15-minute call with someone at Alan Aldous.